by Greg Mayer
In honor of Drink Beer Day, and following up on the offerings by Jerry and Andrew Berry, here are some beers I had on a trip to England in January. We of course must begin with Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, Jerry’s favorite.
This of course is the bottled variety, which was all they had at the aptly named Leopard Bar in Bloomsbury.
The lovely Radnor Arms in Coleshill, Oxfordshire, is a classic country pub.
But, unfortunately, I don’t recall what beers we had there; that’s them there, at the front of the bar.
At the Anchor, in Polstead Road in Oxford,
I had beers with both evolutionary
and naval connections (my father and daughter were/are in the US Navy, and our host was a former Royal Navy officer).
Swordfish is “very good“, fide Beer Advocate, but, as Jerry would appreciate, Timothy Taylor’s Landlord is “outstanding“! Just down the Road from the Anchor is the childhood home of T.E. Lawrence. Jerry and I are both Lawrence aficionados, and Jerry has shared his photos of Lawrence’s last home, Clouds Hill, so here’s where he lived from 1896-1921. (Note the Blue Plaque.)
In London, Punch and Judy in Covent Garden has a fine bar,
and fine food–beef & raclette cheese shortcrust pie–with accompanying pint, but, alas, I did not note what beer it was. (Note the HP Sauce.)
Besides traditional English pubs, London has many fine ethnic restaurants, and, at Oorja Indian Dining, the Indian beer Kingfisher was available. (It’s not great, fide Beer Advocate.)
Both the British Museum and the Natural History Museum have nearby pubs. In Kensington, near the latter, we found Timothy Taylor’s Landlord on tap.
Note the real pull handle.
Across the street from the British Museum, the Museum Tavern, adorned by an image of the Museum’s founder, Sir Hans Sloane,
had a fine bar (note the American style taps for Peroni and other beers at the near end of the bar, and the pull handles for English beers down by the gent who’s about to order),
where I had, of course, the house ale.
Finally, on the way out of England, I tried Aspall Cyder, made in Suffolk, at a hotel at Heathrow Airport.
